USATC S160 Class

USATC S160 Class China KD6, ÖBB Class 956, ČSD Class 456.1, SNCF Class 140U, SEK Class Θγ (THg), MÁV Class 411, FS Class 736, PKP Tr201 and Tr203, Russia class ШA, Renfe class 553, TCDD 45171 Class, JZ class 37
607 at the US Army Transportation Museum
Power type	Steam
Designer	Maj. J.W. Marsh
Builder	American Locomotive Company (755), Baldwin Locomotive Works (712), Lima Locomotive Works (653)
Build date	1942–1946
Total produced	2120
Configuration	2-8-0
UIC classification	1′D h2
Gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Leading wheel diameter	2 ft 9 in (838 mm)
Driver diameter	4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm)
Wheelbase	51 ft 7 3⁄4 in (15.74 m)
Length	61 ft 0 in (18.59 m), including tender
Weight on drivers	140,000 lb (63.5 tonnes)
Locomotive weight	161,000 lb (73.0 tonnes)
Tender weight	115,500 lb (52.4 tonnes)
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	20,000 lb (9.1 tonnes)
Water capacity	6,500 US gallons (25,000 l; 5,400 imp gal)
Boiler	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) maximum diameter
Boiler pressure	225 lbf/in² (1.55 MPa)
Firegrate area	41 sq ft (3.8 m2)
Heating surface: Tubes	1,055 sq ft (98.0 m2) (150 × 2 in (51 mm) diameter)
Heating surface: Flues	567 sq ft (52.7 m2) (30 × 5.375 in (137 mm) diameter)
Heating surface: Firebox	136 sq ft (12.6 m2)
Heating surface: Total	2,253 sq ft (209.3 m2)
Superheater area	313 sq ft (29.1 m2)
Cylinders	Two, outside
Cylinder size	19 × 26 in (483 × 660 mm)
Valve gear	Walschaerts
Valve type	10 inches (254 mm) piston valves
Tractive effort	31,490 lbf (140.1 kN)
Class	USATC S160 and country derivatives
Official name	USATC S160 Class
Locale	United States European Union

The United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class is a class of 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive designed for use in Europe during World War II for heavy freight work. A total of 2,120 were built and they worked on railroads across the world, including Africa, Asia, all of Europe and South America.

Design

During the 1930s, the United States Army Transportation Corps approved update of a Baldwin Locomotive Works World War I design in contingency for war transportation, to create the S159 Class. During the period of World War Two when America was neutral, the government of Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the Lend-Lease supply to the United Kingdom of the S200 Class, designed specifically to fit into the restricted British loading gauge.^[1]

With Americas entry to World War Two, the USATC needed a developed design from which to create a volume of locomotive power for the wrecked railways of Europe, which they could use to deploy military hardware and civilian goods. Hence the design created by Maj. J.W. Marsh from the Railway Branch of the Corps of Engineers learnt from both previous locomotives, designed on austerity principles and built using methods which created efficient and fast construction speed over long life,^[1] such as axlebox grease lubricators and rolled plates preferred to castings.

With cast frames and cast wheels, the front two driving axles were sprung independently from the rear two driving axles to allow for running on poor quality track. The larger tender layout was derived from the similar design for the WD Austerity 2-8-0, with the coal bunker inset above the water tank to improve visibility when running backwards.

British deployment

800 locomotives were constructed in 1942/3 in thirteen batches, split between ALCO, Baldwin and Lima Locomotive Works. Shipped to South Wales and dispatched from the GWR locomotive depot at Newport, Ebbw Junction, the first 43 locomotives were transferred to the LNER works at Doncaster for completion, and later running in over the East Coast mainline to replace damaged stock. This started a pattern where by each of the four British railway companies eventually deployed a total of 400 S160's under the guise of "running in," but factually replacing lost stock and increasing the capacity of the British railways system to allow for shipping of military pre-invasion equipment and troops. The eventual deployment of S160's were:

• 174 to the Great Western Railway
• 168 to the London and North Eastern Railway
• 50 to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
• 6 to the Southern Railway

The second batch of 400 S160's were prepared for storage by USATC personnel at Great Western locomotive depot Ebbw Junction, in the immediate run-up to D-Day. Post the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the locomotives deployed across Britain again began to collect and be refurbished at Ebbw Vale in preparation for shipment to Europe.

Operational failures

The S160's were designed for quick and efficient building not for long term operations, but the compromises in design lead to some difficulties in operations. The axle box grease lubricators were not as efficient as they needed, particularly when maintenance procedures lapsed or were delayed for operational war reasons, and so axle boxes often ran hot. Braking was poor for European standards, with a Westinghouse steam brake used for the locomotive,^[1] but was woefully insufficient due to the long distance from the driver's valve and the brake cylinder.

The major faults of the S160 were the crown stays in the firebox, coupled with only a single water gauge of an unreliable design, which was prone to blockage, misleading the crew into thinking that the water level was adequate, even though it was becoming dangerously low. The bolts holding the crown stays were found to collapse under heat tension with low water levels and with little warning, resulting in a boiler explosion.^[2] In a space of ten months, three UK S160s suffered a collapse of the firebox crown, with the first leading to the death of a GWR fireman on No. 2403 in November 1943.

Deployment

Judging accurately the actual deployment of 2120 locomotives is difficult, but the following numbers are referenced:^[2]

Europe

Tr203 308, an S160 shunting in Poland, August 1976

The British locomotives, together with those shipped direct from America were also similarly deployed first with troops reclaiming Europe, and then subsumed throughout European national railways as replacements for their destroyed stock after the war:

• Austria, ÖBB Class 956 - 30 examples, all scrapped^[3]
• Czechoslovakia, ČSD Class 456.1 - 80 examples, last of them (456.173) withdrawn in 1972 and scrapped the following year
• France, SNCF Class 140U - 121 examples;
• Germany - 40 examples briefly used in 1947 in American and British zones, based in Bremen. All sold to Hungary in August 1947;
• Greece, SEK Class Θγ (THg) - 27 examples received in 1947 (Θγ 521 to 537 and Θγ 551 to 560), plus 25 examples bought from Italian FS railways in 1959 (Θγ 571 to 595);
• Hungary, MÁV Class 411 - 510 examples, bought at $100,000 each, of which 484 were put into use and allocated service numbers from 411.001 onwards, and 26 cannibalized for spares^[4]
• Italy, FS Class 736 - 244 examples, plus four salvaged from a sunken ship, all but eight with oil firing. 25 sold to Greece in 1959, the rest were withdrawn in early 1960s
• Poland, PKP - received 75 S160s from UNRRA and numbered them Tr201-1 - 75; and a further 500 from USATC as Tr203-1 - 500.^[4] In PKP service, boiler pressure was reduced to 13 bar and maximum speed was set at 65 km/h. Modifications included fitting Trofimov piston valves, electric headlights and cab side doors. One engine was converted to a Tank locomotive in 1957, and designated TKr55^[2]
• Soviet Union, Class Ш^A (Sh^A) - 200 machines ordered from Baldwin (Ш^A 1 to 90) and ALCO (Ш^A 91 to 200), designated S162s and S166s. Ш^A 52 to 55, 69 and 70 were lost en route to Vladivostok and Ш^A 13 remained in the USA^[5]. In 1957, 50 of them were converted for 1067 mm track and used by South Sakhalin Railroad^[5]
• Spain, Class 553 - in 1959 the Alaska Railroad sold five S160's to FC de Langreo^[6][7]
• Turkey, TCDD 45171 Class - 50 units, numbered 45171 to 45220^[1]
• United Kingdom - none, after they were all exported post D-Day. Some now re-imported for use by preserved railways
• Yugoslavia, JZ - Class 37 - 80 examples

Africa

At the same time as S160's were being deployed into Britain, when General Patton led American troops in Operation Torch in to the North African Campaign, their Transport Corps brought with them S160's. These locomotives moved across the north of the continent as Patton's troops waged war, and when the troops moved to Italy the majority of their S160's moved with them. These locomotives supplemented with direct importation from America, were eventually to create a group of 243 locomotives, subsumed by the Italian State Railway's to become the FS Class 736 class.

• Algeria, Class 140-U - number unknown
• Morocco, Class 140-B - number unknown
• Tunisia, Class 140-250 - number unknown

Americas

• Mexico, Class GR-28 - 10 examples purchased by FCM directly from Baldwin in 1946 and allocated service numbers 211 to 220, with different pilots and couplers (some sources give 11 examples) – these were the last machines of the S160 type built
• Peru, Class 80 - 2 examples, probably directly from ALCO in 1943
• United States - an unknown number with USATC and then various military transportation units. Five surplus to requirements of the Alaska Railroad later shipped to Spain

Asia

After World War Two, the reconstruction of the world required transportation. The S160's were deployed to Asia under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, to China and South Korea.^[8]

• China, Class KD6 - number unknown. Many were modernized with larger cabs, higher stacks, some fitted with large smoke lifters with horizontal riffles. They were later transferred to industrial operators, mainly coal mines. The last example thought to be KD6 487 withdrawn probably in 1997
• North and South Korea, Class Sori2 - it is not known how many or from where the SI60s were deployed to North Korea, but their 2,210 sister decapods were shipped from Portland to Vladivostok under "Lease-Lend" in 1944/5. After the War, these locomotives called "Soyusnitzys" (i.e., from the Russian for "Allies"), were moved to Siberia. They moved to North Korea during the Korean War, carrying 8xxx numbers. Ironically, the S160's fought on both side of the conflict.^[9]

Variants

There were three major variants of the S160 class, excluding inlife design development:

• S161 - designed for deployment in Jamaica on British military railways used by the United States. Later subsumed by the Jamaica Railway Corporation^[2]
• S162 - designed for Russian broad gauge track
• S166 - designed for Russian broad gauge track

Preservation

Mainly due to their numbers, rather than the design or build quality, at least 25 examples of the S160 have survived into preservation, making them one of the most numerous survivors of all Mainline Steam Locomotives:

No.	Builder	Post WW2 Owner	Current Owner	Location	Notes
6996	Lima 7877	Alaska Railroad 504 (later 404)	Langreo Mining Co	Langreo, Spain	One of eight prototypes classes as S159
1631	Alco 70284	MÁV 411.388		Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre	Awaiting restoration
2138	Alco 70620	MÁV 411.380		Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre	Source of startegic spares for 1631
2364	Baldwin 69621	MÁV 411.xxx		Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre	Chassis only, source for strategic spares for 1631
2627	Baldwin 69855	Alaska Railroad 556	City of Anchorage	Anchorage, Alaska
3523	Baldwin 70480	Alaska Railroad 557	Monte Holm	Moses Lake, Washington
5846	Lima 8784	US Army 606	Crewe Railroad Museum	Crewe, Virginia
5187	Lima 8846	US Army 2627; US Army 607	US Army Transportation Museum	Fort Eustis Military Railroad
2628	Baldwin 69856	US Army 611	Bill Miller Equipment Sales	Eckhart Mines, Maryland	Fitted with Franklin Poppet valve gear[10] undergoing restoration
2630	Baldwin 69858	US Army 612	Cass Scenic Railroad	Cass, West Virginia
1702	Baldwin 64641	Reader Railroad	Great Smoky Mountains Railroad	Dillsboro, North Carolina	Awaiting unlikely overhaul completion
5197	Lima 8856	Funshum Industrial Railway, #KD6.463		Churnet Valley Railway	Awaiting overhaul
6046	Baldwin 72080	MÁV 411.144		Churnet Valley Railway	Under restoration
2253	Baldwin 69496	PKP Tr.203.208		North Yorkshire Moors Railway	Awaiting overhaul
5820	Lima 8758	PKP Tr.203.474		Keighley and Worth Valley Railway	Undergoing overhaul
3278	Alco 71533	FS 736.073; SEK Θγ575		South Coast Steam Ltd #701 Franklin Roosevelt	Awaiting overhaul
5164	Lima 8823	PKP Tr.201.51	Polskie Koleje Państwowe	Jaworzyna Śląska
3540	Baldwin 70497	MÁV 411.118		Hungarian Railway Museum, Budapest	Operational but no boiler licence
2781	Lima 8434	MÁV 411.264		Hatvan railway station	Plinthed
6056	Baldwin 72090	MÁV 411.358		Hegyeshalom railway station	Plinthed
2206	Lima 8212	SEK Θγ 525	OSE	Thessaloniki Depot	stored
2524	Lima 8341	TCDD 45172	Turkish State Railways	Çamlık Railway Museum
2879	Alco 71076	TCDD 45174	Turkish State Railways	Ankara Railway Museum
3324	Alco 71579	FS 736.114	FS	Pietrarsa railway museum
—	Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton 75503	US Army 610	Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum	Chattanooga, Tennessee	Out of service for her 1472 inspection & rebuild. 610 is technically not an S-160 but classified as a type A, constructed in 1952

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} 45171 to 45220 trainsofturkey.com
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Tr201/Tr203 locomotives.com.pl
3. ^ http://www.30937.co.uk/AUST_CLASS_STEA_OBB.htm
4. ^ ^{a b} USATC S160 2-8-0 No. 5197 & 6046 The Churnet Valley Guide
5. ^ ^{a b} Rakov, V.A. Lokomotivy otechestvennykh zheleznykh dorog 1845-1955, Moscow 1995, ISBN 5-277-00821-7, pp.338-339
6. ^ USATC Steam Locomotives 1942 - 1947
7. ^ http://www.ratrust.org/Photos/Spain/Locomotives/Narrow_Gauge__W_/N_G__West/n_g__west_23.html
8. ^ Vintage Shenyang Area Pictures January 1985
9. ^ A Glimpse of North Korea's Railways Florian Schmidt for Continental Railway Journal
10. ^ Saul Nadler's Photos

External links

• "The USATC S160 2-8-0s". www.lner.info. The London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) Encyclopedia. http://www.lner.info/locos/O/s160.shtml. 
• "The USATC steam locomotives in Greece, 1947, 1959" (in greek). www.gregoriou.itgo.com. http://www.gregoriou.itgo.com/custom4.html. 
• "45171 to 45220". www.trainsofturkey.com. http://www.trainsofturkey.com/w/pmwiki.php/Steam/45171.